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Turkey Refuses to Be Influenced by Iraq Against Israel

May 17, 1954
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Turkey is unwilling to intervene in the Palestine situation as the price of Iraq’s joining the Pakistan-Turkish military pact, it was learned today in the wake of the four-day meeting here of American diplomatic envoys from 13 Middle Eastern countries which concluded yesterday.

It became known that the Iraqi have said that they would be more prepared to join the Ankara-Karachi alliance if Turkey used its influence with Israel and the Western powers to obtain a settlement of the Arab-Israel conflict favorable to the Arabs. American diplomats were pictured as optimistic that Iraq would join the alliance if it could be diverted from the Israeli problem.

During the American conference here strong support was voiced for the issuance of a new form of the tripartite declaration, one which would go farther toward guaranteeing the borders of the Arab states and Israel by pledging the use of force to prevent aggression by one side against the other in the current Israel-Arab conflict.

Although this did not emerge from the conference as a definite program, it is understood that Assistant Secretary of State Henry A. Byroade, who presided at the parley, is convinced that some bold step, together with London and Paris, is needed to save the Middle East situation.

It is felt that such a guarantee of specific action to prevent aggression would quiet Israel’s fears over American arms shipments to Iraq and alleged Arab fears of Israeli aggression. U.S. diplomats were pictured as believing that the failure of the original tripartite declaration to spell out the action to be taken in the event of aggression by either side, had contributed a powerful weapon to Arab politicians’ maneuvering to prevent an Arab-Israel peace settlement.

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